GNU Bash

Software Overview

Main Features

Superset of the Bourne shell command syntax

Interactive command line editing

Indexed arrays of unlimited size

Command substitution

Filename globbing

GNU Bash is a Unix shell created for the GNU Project. Bash stands for Bourne Again SHell and is a free software replacement for the Bourne shell. It is widely used as a shell for the GNU operating system.

Bash uses command syntax that is a superset of the Bourne shell command syntax and can execute many of the Bourne shell scripts. The shell comes with a variety of features from the C shell (csh) and Korn shell (ksh). Bash offers interactive command line editing, shell functions and aliases, indexed arrays of unlimited size, and job control. The shell also supports command substitution, filename globbing, piping, and control structures and variables for iteration and condition-testing.

Bash is widely used as the shell for the GNU operating system. It comes with a variety of features and is actively improved. Overall, GNU Bash is a great improvement over the Bourne shell that integrates features from the csh and ash shells, as well.